Often Irreverent, Mostly Rational Blog for Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays. One Day, We'll Be Perfect.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Five years is a long time

Don't get us wrong...We love A.J. as much as the next guy. But five years? How many DL trips is that? What's the over/under on the number of "sharks" biting in his elbow between now and 2013?

As a point of reference, think about what the Red Sox did with hometown heroes Pedro Martinez and Johnny Damon: They walked away from bad contracts that were too long, spared themselves the sight of those two players going to hell in a Red Sox uniform, and won a World Series along the way. The Yankees and Mets? Not so much.

If the money doesn't exist to sign Manny if AJ goes elsewhere, then the money doesn't exist to sign AJ. With all this talk about offing him deals we know he won't accept, if the money's so bad that we can't be in on Furcal or Manny or anyone, maybe we can't even give AJ the deal we're offering him and it's all just a smokescreen.

Pedro Martinez is a good comp to mention above, Johnny Damon not so much. Aside from not being a CF anymore (and with his arm, should he really have ever been playing CF?..) he's been a better hitter for the Yankees then he was for the Red Sox. Unless he completely implodes this year and posts a OPS+ below 90, the Yankees will not have made a bad deal. Perhaps paid a bit too much, but certainly nothing extreme. He's been a good hitter for them.

I almost have to wonder if JP is pushing to give Burnett five years due to some pressure from Halladay. We all know that Doc and AJ are buddies, and perhaps Doc has let it be known that he'd only sign an extension in Toronto if his pal is along for the ride. Admittedly, this seems uncharacteristic of Halladay, but he's got to be more frustrated about the Jays never being in contention than we are.